OK, the VR-120D has an internal charging circuit hooked up to the
charger base. BUT, it is only intended to charge the proprietary Yaesu
battery pack.
Inside the battery compartment, there is a metal tab, which connects
to the NEGATIVE charging terminal on the bottom of the case, and to a
post on the Yaseu battery pack.
After checking the theory with a voltmeter, I simply ran a VERY short
jumper from the metal tab to the negative battery terminal spring
(less than 1/4")
no soldering - just pop the battery back in to hold it together.
VOILA
Red light on charger lights up, batterys charge!
Don't care if I ruin some batterys, been buying 1800 NiMH for $40.00
for 50 batterys!
AND
So far I have run a 120 for days on these between charges, and the
batterys NEVER run down!
While the radio can be run from the optional AC adaptor, it can not be
run from the charger - get all kinds of noise on the programmed freqs,
makes scanning impossible.
The manual DOES say you can run from the AC adaptor, is silent on the
subject about the charging base. So I guess now we know.

It's probably the same trick they use in the VR-500. If you trim off the
thin plastic covering on the battery so that it exposes the metal casing at
the location of the third terminal, you don't need the jumper. The outer
metal casing is actually the negative terminal of the battery. Either way,
it works exactly the same. The only downside of the jumper approach is that
if you forget and install alkalines and plug in the charger, it might not be
a good thing. Having a dedicated NiMH battery is safer...this is what I use
in my VR-500. You can still use the modified battery in other equipment if
you need to.

- Doug


"Bruce Markowitz" wrote in message
...
OK, the VR-120D has an internal charging circuit hooked up to the
charger base. BUT, it is only intended to charge the proprietary Yaesu
battery pack.
Inside the battery compartment, there is a metal tab, which connects
to the NEGATIVE charging terminal on the bottom of the case, and to a
post on the Yaseu battery pack.
After checking the theory with a voltmeter, I simply ran a VERY short
jumper from the metal tab to the negative battery terminal spring
(less than 1/4")
no soldering - just pop the battery back in to hold it together.
VOILA
Red light on charger lights up, batterys charge!
Don't care if I ruin some batterys, been buying 1800 NiMH for $40.00
for 50 batterys!
AND
So far I have run a 120 for days on these between charges, and the
batterys NEVER run down!
While the radio can be run from the optional AC adaptor, it can not be
run from the charger - get all kinds of noise on the programmed freqs,
makes scanning impossible.
The manual DOES say you can run from the AC adaptor, is silent on the
subject about the charging base. So I guess now we know.